WHERE LAY PEOPLE WORK FOR PEACE, JUSTICE, AND HOPE

Editor’s Note: The following is part of Millennial Lenten Reflections, a blog series in collaboration with Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good. Short reflections on the day’s readings, written by young adults from FMS and other organizations, will be posted everyday throughout Lent.

Fear is an emotion I know well.

I feel afraid daily living as a Franciscan lay missioner here in Cochabamba, Bolivia. I am afraid of being known as imperfect. I am afraid of being vulnerable. I am afraid of being humiliated.

Because it is difficult to live in a foreign culture, to speak a second language, and to move far away from everyone I know and everyone who knows me.

In today’s Gospel, we hear that ever-so-important reminder from the angel Gabriel to Mary, “Do not be afraid.”

And when I hear those words, they encourage me in my own journey.

I know I am afraid but I also know the grace of consolation, the mystery of the spirit moving within me and those around me, and the beauty of the way we can open up to one another and connect when we are at our most imperfect, vulnerable and humiliated.

And I feel connected to Mary, full of fear of the life she is called to live.

I feel connected both to her fear and her faith.

Consolation has given me the courage to confront my fears and the faith to trust in the mystery of how my fears have introduced me to growth.

From St. Paul, Minnesota, Annemarie graduated from Loyola University in Chicago in 2012 with a degree in Communication Studies. Possessing a strong interest in social justice issues and some experience with international travel, she began her service in Bolivia in January 2013.